Cameron White's ton powers Australia A to 274/5 against India A in Quadrangular final

India A bowlers peg Australia A back towards the end of the innings.

Skipper Cameron White‘s 137 powered Australia A to a formidable total of 274 for five against India A in the Quadrangular One-Day final at Darwin on Saturday. White and Phil Hughes (51) put on a solid opening stand of 146 but the India A bowlers did well to peg them back in the later half of the innings.

On a good batting pitch, White won the toss and opted to bat. The two teams had met just a day before in a tense contest where the Indians prevailed at the back of a five-for from Manoj Tiwary. The Aussies here were off to a fluent start, with double centurion from the series Hughes and skipper White scoring freely. Despite not losing a wicket, the openers weren’t allowed to run away with the game.

The Australians had steadily progressed towards 150 by the 26th over when pacer Dhawal Kulkarni struck the first blow removing Hughes for 51. No 3 batsman Alex Doolan then hung on with White who dominated the scoring throughout the innings. India’s two spinners Akshar Patel and Karn Sharma did well in the middle overs keeping a check on the scoring. Akshar looked most effective of the two. The duo shared a 74-run stand when Patel struck with the wicket of Doolan.

With nine overs left and eight wickets in hand, one would have expected the Aussies to play some sparkling shots. However, they suffered the first jolt in the 44th over with White dismissed for 137 by Dhawal Kulkarni. White went for a big one and holed out to Tiwary in the deep. Three overs later, two more batsmen had made their way back to the pavilion with Mitchell Marsh (4) and Moises Henriques (5).

The Indian bowlers had stalled their progress by drying up the runs and picking wickets quickly. The Aussies managed to crawl past the 250-run mark. Ben Cutting hit a six in the 49th over and along with Callum Ferguson increased the scoring rate with singles and twos. Cutting scored 35 in 21 balls but Australia A will be ruing not to get to the 300-run mark considering the batting wicket and the start they got. Kulkarni was pick of the bowlers for India with three for 48.